All-new Alfa Romeo Mi.To at British Motor Show

Amid a recent, light-hearted Top Gear discussion about car manufacturers’ who have currently perfected a range without a minger making up numbers, the presenters – in their infinite wisdom – decided that accolades would have gone to Alfa Romeo, were it not for the all-new Mi.To making a mess of all things automotively endearing.

Well, here at MT we must beg to differ, as we fervently believe that Alfa’s first ‘supermini’ – and therefore its first small car per se – in 35 years is quite the looker.

Scrubbed up in all its classic Alfa Romeo red coachwork splendour, the Mi.To may well leave car folk bemused over the origins/punctuation/meaning of its name, but should sell like the proverbial hot cakes when its launched in the UK early in 2009.

Like everything, it takes a moment or two to adjust when confronted with something out of the ordinary, as people historically don’t like change. But Alfa realised it had to move again with the times, and in doing so has created the modern day incarnate of the legendary AlfaSud Ti of the 1970s.

The thing is though, if you look closely like we did, squint a little, then the Mi.To becomes all the more clearer, emerging as a sort of tortured Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione supercar. And we all know they like a bit of that not half.

Aside from the same paintwork which is a given for Alfa, you can’t help but observe the same round and chromed headlights and taillights and telephone-dial alloys. And what about the frameless side windows, flared wheel arches and triangular Alfa grille up front?

Well, love it or hate it, the all-new Alfa Romeo Mi.To is as safe as houses, with deployable face pillows as standard kit, as well as anti-skidding measures enabled. It’s also set to be the first car in the B-Segment to proffer the Italian car maker’s unique DNA assemblage onboard.

Dynamic, Normal and All-weather modes can be facilitated at the touch of a dashboard button so as to aid the driver tackle changing road conditions as he or she faces up to them. The steering, engine response, brakes, suspension and transmission set-up alter immediately so as to equip the driver with the ride configuration best suited for what lays ahead.

The engines to choose between include a trio of 1.4-litre petrols – with either 95, 120 or 155bhp on tap – and a brace of diesels. A 90bhp 1.3-litre and a 120bhp 1.6-litre, with a number of trim levels that embrace both the entry level Turismo and range-peaking Veloce variants.